Improvement in apparatus for smoking hams



N. G. SIMONDS.-

APPARATUS FOR SMOKING HAMS.

No. 195,730. Patented 0ct.2,1877.

iLPErERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON. D C

Pirr-ENT OFFIGE.

NATHANIELG, sIMonDs,oF Bos'roN,-MAssAoHUsErrs i ,l-MPROVEMENT'IN APPARATUS FOR SMOKINGHAMQS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 195,730, dated October 2, 1877; application filed v v .September 1, 1877.

To all whom it may concern;

Be. it known that I; NATHANIEL G. SIMoNns, of Boston, in the county of 'Sufiolk and .State {of Massachusetts, have inventedja newand useful or Improved Apparatus for Smoking Hams and other Articles, which invention is fully. set forthin the following specification, reference being had to'the accompanying draw- -1ug.

The object of my inventioir is to furnish a smoking apparatus which shall be efficient in preserving hams, and any other articles that may be properly treated thereby, that will enable the temperature ofthe smoke-house to be suitably regulated, so as to' avoid any due shrinkage of the harms and excessive waste by dripping, and also effect a saving in fuel, from which the required smoke is derived.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top or plan view of my apparatus.- Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same, taken" on line 00 ac, Fig.- 1. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the smokehouse with the doors open. Fig. 4 is an enlarged View of detached portions of the han1- boxes or smoke-flue.

In the drawings the several parts of my apparatus are distinguished as follows: H represents the smoke-house; F, the furnace; G, the revolving cylinder within the furnace; B, the blower. a is the draft or chimney pipe of the furnace, and leads into the chimney of the smoke'house. b is the blast-pipe; c, the pipe which connects the cylinder with the smokehouse, and d a branch pipe connecting pipes at and 0. Within the smoke-house is a circuitous smoke-flue, e, into one end of which the pipes b and 0 lead directly, while its opposite end terminates in the chimney f of the smokehouse.

This smoke-flue e, which may be extended about the interior of the smoke-house in any convenient manner, also constitutes the receptacle within which the hams, or other articles to be smoked and preserved, are placed, and is constructed with openings, as shown at g, Fig. 4, provided with hinged lids for tightly closing the same, as at h, when the hams have been suspended therein by hooks resting upon bars, as shown at t t, Fig. 2.

When the hams are thus disposed throughout the said smoke-flue the operation of my apparatus in curing the same is as follows: A quantity of suitable combustible material beinglplaced upon the fire-grate j in the fur nace F andignited, the smoke arising-therefrom passes along the pipe a until it reaches the cut-off or damper k, which, being turned to obstruct the passage, deflects the current of smoke through the branch pipe-d, whose damper is open, and thence into pipe 0, whence it is forced into the smoke-house flue c'and among the hams by the blast from pipe b,.produced by the blower, which may be operated by any-suitable motive power, the effect of said blast being to exhaust that portion of pipes c and a between the blast-pipe and the furnace, and force, by pressure, the smoke thus derived through the flue e, and in contact with the hams placed therein.

The revolving cylinder 0, which rotates, when set slowly in motion by suitable motive power, above the furnace fire, may be employed to roast coffee, and when so employed the fumes and aroma arising therefrom are carried through the pipe 0, by the means just described, into the smoke-house flue, and thus utilized in the process of preserving and flavoring the hams. The coffee thus roasted outside of the smokehouse will not be in any manner damaged, but will remain perfectly clean and suitable for table use, and a saving be effected by its preparation in conjunction with the aforesaid preserving process.

Any other suitable aromatic and spicy article or articles may be prepared, burned, or evaporated in said cylinder for the purpose of aiding in the preservation and flavoring of the hams.

The top of the furnace has a slide, 1, Fig. 2 for the purpose of access to the cylinder, an the cylinder is provided with a similar slide, m, covering an opening therein, through which the same is charged and discharged.

The pipe 0 has a strainer, n, and a similar guard may be placed across pipe at, near the furnace, to prevent the passage therefrom of any flaming or ignited particles of combustt ble materials into the smoke'house. The air conducted into the smoke-house through the blast-pipe b not only serves to promote a circulation of smoke through the circuitous due 1', but also to regulate the temperae j said fiue and smoke-house.

aid blast-pipe has a cut-ofl, 0, which may be employed to graduate the current of air thus forced into the smoke-pipes.

When sufiicient smoke is produced by the operations carried on in the cylinder 0, or it is desirable to employ the fumes therefrom exclusively, the damper k in pipe in is turned so as not to obstruct said pipe, while the damper in the branch pipe d is made to close its pipe, when the smoke and heat the furnacewill pass directly through pipe a to the chimney f of the smoke-house and escape therefrom, while the blast from pipe b will carry the" fumes from the cylinder into the smokehnuse, as before deseribed.

It found desirable in regulating the temperature of thsmoke-house through the bfast-pipe, thaair which supplies said pipe may be taken wholly or in part through a branch pipe leadthe fiu'uace', instead of entirely outjsid erthus tempering the blast and facilitating thereg'nlatiou-ei the temperature in the smokehouse and its flue.

' Whatm'er drip falls into the trough of the smoke-flue may be readily drawn out through tapholes-made therein, or dipped out when the trough is opened, by raising the lids which cover the-same, as before described; but by my method of smoking the hams and regulatin'g'itlie temperature about them at the same time it is believed much of the dripping from the meat, and consequent shrinking thereof, will be avoided.

Adamper in the smoke-flue e, near chimney f, Fig. 3, serves when turned to obstruct said pipe, to check the How of the current of smoke v in said flue, and thereby, when the blower is in operation, to compress and condense the smoke in the same about the hams, and when the flue is thus charged with smoke the blast may be shut ofi' for a time until a fresh charge of smoke is needed.

What I claim as my invention is- I. A s'nrfolwiing apeamtus consisting of a smoke-conduit and meat-receptacle, e, a sheltor-house, H, and an external smoke-produciug furnace, 1?, combined and arranged to opcrate together and relatively to each other substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. In a smoking apparatus, the combination of a smoke-house provided with a smoke-box, c, or its equivalentfiysmoke-producing furnace, and a blower, all suitably connected by pipes to operate and produce the effects, substantially as and-for the purposes described.

3. A meat smokingi apparatus consisting of a smoke-ehanfiietye?afismokaproducing fur-n.

naee, F, andanaroma-generator,(), constructed, combined, and'arranged to operate together substantiallyas and for the purposes specified.

4. A smokiiigfjaiiii jji hehi ing apparatus, consisting of the house-Hg with its flue c, the furnace F, revolving cylinder 9,- pi'pes a b c d, with their dampers, and the blower B, constructed, combined,- and arranged to operate together substantially as and for the purposes Specified a r,

NATHL. G. SIMONDS.

Witnesses:

EUGENE HUMPHREY, Ennn HUTGHINSON. 

